Armenia is beautiful and sunny country, the tourism potential of which, according to many experts, has not been fully revealed. It so happened that after the collapse of the USSR, the republic was going through hard times; economic difficulties did not contribute to the influx of tourists. Fortunately, this period is behind us and people from different countries When planning their vacation, they are increasingly turning their gaze towards Armenia.

I decided to write an online guide to Armenia based on my trip. Useful information there can never be too much.

Below you will find answers to planning questions, where to live, how much money you need, whether you need a visa and how to get around, as well as the route around Armenia that we took. Based on it, you can make your own or use ours.

I am often asked: “Why go to Armenia, what to see there and is it even worth spending time and vacation on this country.” And now I answer without hesitation: “Of course it’s worth it!”

I’ll tell you a banal fact, but Armenia is the first country to adopt Christianity. Therefore, there will be no shortage of historical and architectural attractions here, even for experienced tourists.

In addition, it has stunning and diverse nature. The greenery of the north and colorful mountains in the south are worth coming here not for a weekend to see Yerevan, but for a full-fledged voyage around this country.

But nature and ancient monasteries are only half of the values ​​of Armenia. People, ordinary Armenians, who stayed in their country and did not go to other countries, that’s why it’s also worth coming here. I’m not afraid of these pretentious statements, but the word “hospitality” was rediscovered for me.

And finally, Armenia is not yet as crowded with tourists as neighboring Georgia or Azerbaijan. It is absolutely possible to find yourself somewhere alone, in the silence of the mountains or monastery walls. Fortunately or unfortunately, the main tourists in Armenia are ethnic Armenians who came to see their homeland, and Chinese tourists that are just everywhere. But the Armenians do everything to make their guests feel comfortable and to make them come and return again and again. And it is true.

Well, the prices here are not high, for Russian salaries. You can afford a little more, and this is good news.

When is the best time to go to Armenia?

If you want to see the whole country in one trip, then best time for a trip to Armenia this is summer, starting from June and ending in September. Juicy Armenian fruits are ripe, there are a lot of cheap vegetables, the snow in the mountains and on the passes has melted and does not create obstacles for inspection and travel.

You can just come for a walk around Yerevan on March 8th. It’s already quite warm, but you can still eat Armenian khash and warm up.

If you are interested in skiing, then you need to go to the Tsakhnadzor resort from December to February/March.

Going to Armenia in August is almost ideal. But during the day in Yerevan and in open areas in the surrounding areas: Garni, Eribuni or Zvartnots, it will be quite hot, but tolerable.

Documents, visa and do you need a passport to travel to Armenia?

Fortunately, the Armenians are our brothers, our army guards the border between Armenia and Turkey, and Russians do not need a visa to Armenia. And a foreign passport to Armenia is no longer needed either. However, it's a pity. After all, he was given a beautiful stamp upon arrival with Big and Small Ararat.

In addition to Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians and other residents of the CIS also do not require a visa to Armenia. The length of stay should not exceed 180 days.

For the rest, it is charged upon arrival and costs 3,000 drams for 21 days or 15,000 drams for 120 days.

You can cross the Armenian border by land in Georgia and Iran, and you can fly by plane from any city with air connections (except Turkey and Azerbaijan).

Language in Armenia “And they will understand me”

Armenia quite recently ceased to be one country with us, so Russian, although not the second state language there, is second, after Armenian. It is obligatory at school, the older generation jokes about “I, too, died in Russian school” and knows and speaks simply after the fact, and also many Armenians go to work in large Russian cities. But I still cannot answer unequivocally that you will be understood. In Yerevan, in a cafe in the center near the fountains, the young waiters only understood us in English. But in general there were no problems with understanding. After all, as the Armenians themselves say: “Putin is our president,” that’s why they learn Russian, one way or another.

The Armenian alphabet is very beautiful and is revered by the residents.

Religion in Armenia

In Armenia the Christian Apostolic Church. Yes, they are Christians, but they have their own customs, which are somewhat different from our understanding of religion. For example, "matah".

In principle, you can come to churches and monasteries in shorts and a T-shirt. I have never seen anyone not allowed in or reprimanded. The Armenians themselves do not give the impression of being very devout and believers, but they often go to churches, even if they are walking or driving past and have time, why not go in and light a candle.

In churches there is usually one place where candles are placed. There is no difference between health here and peace elsewhere. You just put it up, and God will sort it out, something like that. They don’t put candles at different icons, again. But they don’t exist. They try to leave churches so as not to turn their backs on the icons.

Armenians are baptized as Catholics, from left to right, but this is due to the language and pronunciation of the words “In the name of the father, son and holy spirit.” The fact is that the Trinity must each fall into its place when you are baptized. The father is on the forehead, the son is on the stomach, and the word spirit is on the left shoulder. When this prayer is said in Armenian, the order of the words is slightly different. They say, not “the Holy Spirit,” but “the Holy Spirit.” It turns out that in order for the word “spirit” to fall on the left shoulder, you need to be baptized in reverse direction.

I described my observations of life in the country in this article, it also contains a little about religion.

Money, what currency to travel with

The currency in Armenia is the Armenian dram and all payments are made only in local money. In addition to the souvenir market in Yerevan, here you can pay in rubles, and even at a mutually beneficial bank rate.

You can travel with rubles, euros or dollars, but you should not exchange rubles for them before the trip. You will lose more when exchanging back and forth. You can change money at exchange offices in Yerevan, or at banks in other cities.

You can also safely withdraw local drama from a ruble card at ATMs, and that’s what I did. The commission is the usual bank fee, you can check with your bank.

It is better to have cash everywhere, but sometimes in stores it is quite possible to pay with a card. Rarely, but possible.

If you rent a car, then at each parking lot you will be asked for 200 drams, to buy fruit, kebab or lavash to eat, to pay for entrance to the museum or for transport, you will need cash everywhere.

Food prices, how much money to take to Armenia

As I already said, Armenia is not yet so popular among tourists (but everything will change soon), so the prices are very, very attractive and encourage you to spend more.

I will write a separate article about prices in more detail, but in general, expect the following order:

You can find different types of housing in Armenia. It all depends on what you choose, a hostel in Yerevan and a guest house in the province, or good hotel in Yerevan and a sanatorium in Jermuk. The average price tag for accommodation in a hostel/not an expensive but decent hotel is 10,000 drams for 3 people. We took beds in shared rooms in hostels, but in hotels the price tag is the same regardless of whether there are two or four. There will be a separate article about the hotels where we lived. I will write about the good ones and about those that turned out to be unsuccessful.

Eating traditional Armenian food in a cafe costs from $5. We often bought food and ate in apartments that we rented or in hostels, where there was always a kitchen. The cost of staying in a hostel almost always includes breakfast, sometimes very filling, such as pasta with sausages, fruit and coffee.

For example, eating a kebab with baked vegetables, pita bread, cheese, washing it all down with tan-okroshka and beer, which we bought to take away and ate by the river, cost 700 rubles for 4 and there was still left for breakfast. We also bought food in a store in Jermuk for dinner, vegetables, cheese, matsun, basturma, sweet gata and churchkhela, spending 700 rubles and again we still had a hearty dinner left. At the supermarket in Goris we also bought food for 500 rubles for 4 people and again it was enough for dinner and breakfast. If you eat in restaurants, prices will be from $5 and above per person.

Allow transport costs based on the type of transport. Car rental with a driver is 20,000 drams, without - from 15,000 drams. The cost of minibuses depends on the distance. You can get to everything further than the outskirts of Yerevan for 1500-2000 drams from bus stations and minibus parking lots.

Food in Armenia

Armenian cuisine is wonderful! If you take into account the fact that everything is prepared from seasonal and fresh products, then you can even evaluate the taste in absentia.

Vegetarians will have a harder time than meat eaters. But it’s more difficult to refuse and explain why you don’t eat meat. But the argument that you just feel sorry for the poor animals works, it’s been tested. And during the season from late May to September, the amount of vegetables and fruits will satisfy even the needs of raw foodists!

Housing in Armenia

Of course, to get a good option price/quality, you need to have a clear travel plan and not deviate from it. We had a route, but after we left Yerevan, it was not always possible to follow it, although we tried. Booking on the go, especially during the season, is difficult if you are on a budget. There are good and cheap ones (around 10 thousand drams for 2-3 people), but if you book in advance there are more chances. If we realized that we didn’t have time to arrive where it was already booked, then we simply opened a booking and booked from what was available. For not coming to already booked hotel They didn’t charge any fines, although it seemed like a 24-hour cancellation was already subject to a fine of min. 1 night.

The choice of housing is large and varied only in Yerevan. Here you can find many hostels and apartments that are good and not expensive on Airbnb if you book in advance, and even more so hotels. But the price tags in the capital are decent. We preferred to spend the night in hostels.

There is not a large choice of housing in the province, but it is there. In Jermuk, we generally had to use the theory of 6 handshakes and, through our driver and calls, look for housing within 10,000 drams (this was our ceiling for housing, 500 rubles per person).

Communications in Armenia

You can choose different mobile operators, which ones you trust more. There are Beeline and MTS and Orange.

Do you need insurance in Armenia?

There is no such obligation for a trip to Armenia as insurance. No one will ask you for it at the border. However, it doesn’t hurt to have insurance if you plan to actively spend time in the country. Insurance is not expensive and it is better to have it if something happens.

I’m not talking about conquering peaks now, but even simple trekking in the national park in Dilijan or climbing rocks in gorges near Garni can have consequences.

I buy insurance online before every trip. About insurance for active rest wrote In this article.

How to get to Armenia

Most convenient way getting to Armenia is, of course, a plane. You can fly to Yerevan or Gyumri from Russia and Georgia. All flights with the most high prices I collected In this article. There you will also find a calendar of flights to Armenia for the year ahead. It is very convenient to search for cheap tickets. Click on the month and it opens with flight prices by day.

You can also get to Armenia by car, through Georgia or Iran. But in winter it can be difficult to move around the Military Georgian road through the passes, they are covered with snow. However, I considered the budget for such a trip from St. Petersburg, and if there are 3-4 people, then you can get there quite inexpensively, cheaper than by plane, if you don’t catch a cheap flight.

Route around Armenia

I can suggest our route around Armenia. Apart from visiting friends, it took us 7 days to see the maximum. Although it is possible to see everything at once in 10-14 days in the country, Armenia is not a country that you need to “run through”. Still, oriental leisureliness reigns here and you need to make stops along the way.

Important note. In my opinion, see the maximum in the country in short time only possible by car. Yes, there is public transport, it works, and there is also hitchhiking. But when you are limited in time, then a car is the best solution. If you do not drive yourself, then there is an option to rent a car with a driver.

You can start from Yerevan, or, if you are coming to Armenia from Georgia, then from the north from Alaverdi.

There is a separate detailed article for each place in the guide. Follow the turquoise link buttons if you want to learn more.

1 day

For the first 2 nights, feel free to book accommodation in Yerevan. Because the most visited places in the country are located near the capital and it is easier to return to the same place for the night. We lived in the Rafael hostel in the very center, not far from Vernissage and the singing fountains.

What see in Yerevan in one day?

If you are limited in time, then you can explore the capital of Armenia in one day, if quickly and briefly. We arrived in the afternoon and in half a day just walking around Yerevan we managed to visit Gregory's temple, reached Republic Square, walked around Northern Avenue, climbed the Cascade, looked at Yerevan at night and statue of mother Armenia in Victory Park.

In addition, the next day, having also spent half a day, we visited monument to the Armenian genocide, visited the souvenir market Vernissage, watched the evening singing fountain show on Republic Square. Here on the square there is museums of the history of Armenia and an art gallery. We didn't make it to the collection of manuscripts Matenadaran, but I’ll definitely go on my next visit. You can also visit Ararat Brandy Factory, if interesting.

If you're lucky, you can walk around Yerevan for 3-4 days and it's worth a separate trip for a short weekend holidays. There are a lot of places in Yerevan that you can and should see. I personally recommend taking a guide and a personal tour. Then they will immediately bring you up to date, explain the features and local customs and just tell you a lot of interesting things.

Day 2

Around Yerevan

In general, if you don’t have a lot of time to travel to Armenia, even traveling by public transport There is a lot to see around Yerevan. And even though most of it has been reconstructed, which many people don’t like, you can still see monuments and temples that are many hundreds of years old.

Pagan Garni temple is located 30 km from Yerevan, and Geghard Monastery a little further, 40 km. If you rent a car, you have the opportunity to make a stop on the way to these monasteries near Arches of Charents. According to this Armenian poet (whom you can see on the 100 dram bill), from here best view to Mount Ararat. If you are lucky and there is no haze.

We weren't lucky enough to see Masis, but the views are still worth a stop.

Although the Garni Temple is considered a remake, it is not so. And this is the most unusual temple in all of Armenia.

The monastery in the Geghard rock, despite the crowds of people, is impressive. It definitely cannot be excluded from the route around Armenia.

Former capital of Armenia Erebuni definitely worth a visit, especially if you are interested in the history of Armenia. A trip to Echmiadzin, the Armenian Vatican, is worth a look if you want to learn about the history of religion and understand Armenia. If I didn’t have a lot of time on my first visit, I wouldn’t have come here. But if you have a week and a car to rent, be sure to come. For Armenians, these places are the most real, authentic and important.

And I recommend ending the day in the Temple of the Vigilant Forces Zvartnots. Ararat can also be seen from here if the circumstances are successful.

Day 3

We're going South

In one daylight you can visit the monastery Khor Virap and see the most famous symbol of Armenia - Mount Ararat, which the Armenians call Masis. Find out that in Armenia there is not only cognac, but also they make delicious wine. And before bed drink mineral water to Jermuk straight from the waterfall.

If for some reason you don’t want to rent a car, even with a driver, then you won’t be able to see everything in one day ( about rent and transport read here). However, you can buy a tour in Yerevan and see everything except Jermuk, because the bus will return to Yerevan again.

4 day

You can see everything on our list for this day only by car. But for the first time you can choose the very best.

Armenian stonehenge carahunge And Tatev Monastery available even without a rental car. First, you can get to Karahunj by bus next to Sisian () or Goris, and then take a taxi or ride to Tatev. It’s convenient to spend the night in Goris, there are selection of inexpensive hotels, we stayed at the Nar Var Hotel, which is more of a guest house. The hosts gave us a kettle and dishes. If you don't have time in the evening, then take a look stone forest in Goris possible in the morning the next day.

Vorotan Pass
Karahunj - Armenian stonehenge
Caravanserai Katratz
Stone forest to Goris

5 day

Through the pass to Lake Sevan

See cave city Khndzoresk , which ceased to exist only half a century ago and which can be reached via a suspension bridge and communicate with its inhabitants. And then, having rested in Caravanserai standing on the Great Silk Road, leave the scorched south through the Vardenyats pass.

See the most large cluster ancient Armenian stone-cross khachkars near the city Noratuz It's just a must. Khachkar is one of the symbols of Armenia.

And after such a long day to find myself at the Armenian sea - Lake Sevan It will just be a gift. If you have time and money, stay here longer. However hotels on Lake Sevan You need to book very early if you want to save money. Holidays on Lake Sevan are very popular among locals, of course, the only place where, if you’re lucky with the weather, you can swim and eat Sevan crayfish. If you don’t find a hotel suitable for the price, feel free to go spend the night in Dilijan.

Suspension bridge and the cave city of Khndzoresk
Orbelyan caravanserai on the Vardenyats pass (formerly Selim)
Cemetery of khachkars in Noratuz
Hayravank Monastery on Lake Sevan

Day 6

Walking around national park And mountain resort

Dilijan, or rather the nature of this area, is what I want to return here for. Simple trekking through forests and mountains, with access to monasteries, is not suitable for everyone, but just a walk in the park and breathe in fresh cool air after a week spent among stone monasteries, this will definitely appeal to many. If you haven’t watched the movie “Mimino”, I advise you to do so before your trip, you will find out why Dilijan is called “sunny”.

Old Dilijan

Just exploring the city will take time until lunch, after which you can safely head north to the city of Alaverdi, where it is convenient to make yourself a “base” for spending the night and exploring the monasteries in the north of Armenia because there is a 7th day here. It was created not long ago, but is popular among locals and tourists.

If you have time, then go deeper into the mountains and look at the most high mountain in Armenia - Mount Aragats, and also visit Amberd fortress. If you have the desire, you can make a one-day climb up the mountain. In summer, although there is snow, there is not much of it. However, it is advisable to have at least minimal tour equipment for this. If you want to, but are scared, you can take a guide.

On this last day we only visited the monument to the Armenian alphabet, and in the evening we walked around the Vernissage in Yerevan. Early in the morning there was already a plane home. And although we saw a lot on this trip to Armenia, there are still quite a few blank spots where we want to go. And that's great.

Route map in Armenia

This is what our entire route around Armenia for 7 days looks like. If you open the map in full screen (the rightmost icon at the top), you can turn off layers and select movement for each specific day.

Transport in Armenia, how to get around

I will list all the ways of traveling around Armenia available to tourists:

Metro in Yerevan.

There is a place to be. Sometimes it is convenient, if you are limited in time, to get to a certain attraction in Yerevan. But as the locals say, sometimes it’s more convenient to take a taxi; it’s not at all expensive in the capital.

Rented car. Convenient, comfortable, fast. You are in complete control of your own time.

Rental prices start from $30 for a mechanic when booking in advance (for a day of rental when booking on the eve of the trip, the price tag can already be $50). Renting a car with an automatic transmission starts at $40, but on the eve of the trip you can fly by, economy models are dismantled in advance. For an SUV you will have to pay $50-70 per day, depending on the type of transmission.

It’s convenient to rent in, then you know exactly what you’re getting. There are also local rental offices on site, but it depends on your luck.

Car with driver. The price may be even cheaper than renting a car with an automatic transmission, especially if you book on the eve of the trip, and not much in advance. That's what happened to us. It’s convenient because you can hire a driver not for the entire period, but only for those days when you plan to travel around the country.

Almost all local cars run on gas and this results in savings on fuel, gas is much cheaper than gasoline, and all rental cars run on gasoline. This service costs 20,000-25,000 drams for the whole day. You can bargain if you rent for many days. The driver himself finds where he will spend the night along the way and will help you find accommodation if you don’t book in advance.

Public transport. I have a large detailed article about transport in Armenia.

If you have a lot of time and don’t want to see the country in one visit, don’t have a license, or just want to save money, this is your way.

There are 5 places in Yerevan from which buses, minibuses and private transport leave for different directions. But here is the number of flights per day in others big cities maybe 1-2. It's difficult to plan a route with big amount points in one day. Some attractions have no public transport routes at all.

Hitch-hiking. It works, the Armenians are very friendly in this regard and can hospitably give you a ride not only along the way, but also a little further. However, it works well only for short distances and getting to places like Noravank or Caravanserai is quite difficult, relying only on hitchhiking.

What souvenirs to bring from Armenia

The main souvenir market Vernissage is located in Yerevan. It’s difficult to guess who to bring what souvenir without knowing the person, but various Armenian motifs are very popular among tourists.

A grinder for spices and coffee; the coffee itself in Armenia is also good, finely ground, ideal for brewing in a Turk, and I also brought it for amateurs. And if I had my wish, I would bring copper utensils!

Letters of the Armenian alphabet. The best ones were in Dilijan; I didn’t find them at Vernissage later, but there were others.

All kinds of ceramics with symbols of Armenia, Ararat and pomegranate.

Duduk, also a symbol of Armenia, will be an excellent gift for a lover musical instruments.

Chess! In Armenia, chess is taught in school as a regular subject from the 1st grade.

Sweets! Churchkhela and sweet gata.

Of course, Ararat and Noah cognac. They are available in duty free and you can’t find them separately in the city. True, at the airport there are only large bottles.

If you have money and interest, then you can buy a carpet or a small rug, both for the floor and for the table. Armenian motifs in carpet knitting are as unique as the designs on khachkars.

This guide is the author's own and does not pretend to be ideal. However, I have personally gone through everything mentioned in the article and I assure you that everything is more than possible and accessible. If for some reason you copy it to your site, ask me for permission.

The guide will be updated as it becomes available. new information. I haven’t told you everything about Armenia that I know yet. Come back!

Do you want to spend an unforgettable vacation in the Caucasus and see unique sights? Guides in Armenia with a car will help you with this - they will take you along hidden paths and tell you a lot of interesting things!

Ancient, biblical, welcoming and incredibly beautiful - this is exactly how Armenia appears to tourists. And it’s also delicious - because the cuisine here is unique, and every dish is prepared with a piece of soul.

The country attracts with its unique nature and beauty Caucasus Mountains and charming architecture.

Guide to Armenia with car

If you want to see as many sights as possible, a guide to Armenia with a car - the best choice. After all, many architectural and historical monuments scattered throughout the country and in the mountains. And you can’t get to them without a car!

Note! Of course, in many areas there are problems with the road surface. However, the guides use modern, comfortable and powerful cars. Moreover, they know all the access roads. Therefore, there will be no problems with getting to a specific place.

It is noteworthy that the main architectural attractions are temples, churches and monasteries. Among these it is worth highlighting:

• Noravank Monastery, built back in the 13th century. He stands in amazing place- on a steep red rock. The monastery is located 120 kilometers from Yerevan;
• Sanahin Monastery - several churches and other buildings were erected here, which can rightfully be considered a heritage of world architecture. They were built over four centuries;
• Geghardavank Monastery is a real cave city. The first settlements in these places appeared four centuries BC. As legend has it, it was in this monastery that the spear that was used to pierce Jesus Christ, crucified on the cross, was kept.

By the way! The spear tip has been preserved. It is on display at the Etchmiadzin Museum.

It is almost impossible to list all the architectural sights. And to explore them, it is better to contact a private guide who has his own car.

Russian-speaking guides in Armenia

Don't think that there will be a language barrier. Russian-speaking guides in Armenia will conduct unforgettable excursions for you.

Advice! You can now book guide services in Armenia with a car online. It's better to do this in advance. After all, there are always a lot of tourists in Armenia in the summer season. Advance booking will guarantee that you will have a great time on a particular day!

The advantages of private guides are undeniable:

• you decide when to hit the road;
• you can make changes to the route;
• you do not depend on other tourists, because the guide works only with you.

In addition, the cost of their services is no higher than sightseeing tours, purchased from specialized agencies.

I was given excursions in Yerevan by a guide named Sophia - a sociable and friendly girl. Looking at the cheerful Sophia, it is not difficult to guess that I simply could not help but get enormous pleasure from our joint walk around the city and therefore simply have to write a separate post about my personal experience and advise those who are looking for interesting excursions in Yerevan where you can order them online, where to look at reviews of tour guides and, most importantly, where to find Sophia.

Excursions in Yerevan - is it worth going?

I ask myself this question regularly. And every time I find another confirmation of the answer: “Definitely, it’s worth it!” The conclusion is outrageously simple: only thanks to excursions with local residents you can really find out interesting features a specific city/region in a relatively short period of time. And I usually have very little of it.

For example, thanks to an excursion in Yerevan with guide Sophia, I was finally convinced that in the city center it is absolutely safe to drink water from street sources. It’s not for nothing that special mini-fountains with clean drinking water are installed throughout the city. So, I confirm. You can really drink it.

If it were not for excursions in Yerevan, I would not even pay attention to the seemingly completely ordinary residential buildings. Later it turned out that until recently, balconies (loggias) were allowed to be completed independently, thereby increasing the total usable area of ​​the apartment. Taking a closer look, I realized that such “redevelopments” are almost everywhere.

And there are many such examples.

Sophia

Fountains with clean drinking water

Self-built loggias

And if a good half knows about street fountains and balconies independent travelers those who are accustomed to carefully scouring the Internet before each trip (which, in turn, spends a considerable amount of time), then find a place where you can personally follow the process of making a real Armenian carpet, or a colorful cafe, under the ceiling of which there is a air cute toy train without the help of people like Sophia is almost impossible.

Women weavers at work

You can come closer and see everything for yourself

Toy Railway in one of the cafes in Yerevan

And also, if it weren’t for Sophia and her guidance to action, I wouldn’t have seen such a colorful photo with the most stylish (according to me) taxi driver in Yerevan. By the way, Sophia secretly told me that he is a local landmark and quite willingly takes pictures with tourists. As they say, you need to know the places. And people.

Me and the most stylish taxi driver in Yerevan

Yes, yes, the most stylish

Well, I can’t help but mention those really cool cafes that Sophia rented out to me. It’s hard to imagine how much time I would have had to spend to find a normal business lunch in the city center without Sofa’s timely advice. Once again my huge thanks to her!

You can find Sofia on Tripster. The walk described above is her excursion " ".

Now I would be very happy to go on a tour with a friendly and intelligent Yerevan named Levon. Reviews about it are some of the best, and the rating based on almost twenty reviews is 5 out of 5! If you want to visit the legendary Ararat cognac factory, then a tour with Levon is exactly what you need.

Excursions around Armenia - where to go?

Khor Virap. Armenia is the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion. This happened largely thanks to Gregory the Illuminator. Khor Virap is the monastery in which Gregory was imprisoned. Absolutely anyone can visit the dungeon and go down inside. You can do this on a tour of Armenia with guide Lada. " " is the name of the corresponding excursion.

Noravank. No less sacred place. You can also get here from a budget program, which is organized by Tigran. True, there aren’t too many reviews about the excursion itself yet. I advise you to check the latest ones before booking anything.

Lake Sevan and Sevanavank Temple. A place of stunning beauty. If you come here in right time and with the right guide, a flurry of positive emotions is 100% guaranteed. The best choice is a tour with a guide named Ararat. Just read and you will understand everything yourself.

If you want to join in and learn the subtleties national cuisine Armenia, then the best way to learn Armenian cuisine will be. Everything is serious here: first, for farm products, to a real Yerevan food market, where along the way you can try unleavened Armenian cheeses, aromatic pickles and spices, and then - a master class on preparing signature dishes, without which not a single Armenian feast is complete. I just warn you right away - you are unlikely to be able to leave sober.

Noravank Monastery

Khachkars on the territory of the monastery

Khor Virap Monastery

Lada conducts a master class on making baklava

I went on an excursion with Lada not alone, but teamed up with a family I had met the day before. I advise you to do the same. This is a great way to meet new people and save a lot by splitting the costs equally.

Why book online?

Firstly, You can’t find reviews about local agencies and their excursions anywhere. The analogy of Airbnb vs a private realtor is very suitable here: a popular site has reviews, but the second one has to take their word for it (and often regret it). Realtors have deceived me, and I think precisely because they knew about their impunity. It is also worth remembering that the people who sold the excursion to the agency and the tour guides are often completely different people. Having believed one, it is not a fact that the other will pick up the baton of hospitality and give their all 100%.

Secondly, For local tour agencies, a tourist on the street is a one-time client. It's unlikely that anyone really cares about his impressions. At the same time, I know a couple of people from Tripster who have had negative reviews written about them. Their bookings have decreased significantly (or even disappeared completely). I won’t give a link here so as not to offend anyone, but you can go and look for them yourself. In short, you can’t cheat!

Third, Booking in advance is always safer. You know that on a particular day you will have something to do. By the way, I noticed that people go on excursions during the first days in a new city. In principle, this is how it should be if we are talking about an introductory walk. They will show and tell you everything, and then you will return on your own to the place where you wanted to stay longer. In general, I don’t know about you, but I like to plan these things in advance. I don’t really want to waste time looking for an agency on the spot.

Fourthly, Personally, I like the idea of ​​choosing an educated person on the site with whom it will be interesting to communicate and from whom you can ask everything in detail. For example, you can meet with a journalist or historian, whose opinion or full story about the country, its customs and traditions will be incredibly interesting to listen to!

Lada (Tripster guide) tells us about Noravank Monastery

Where do I book?

Now the question of where to book excursions in Yerevan and around Armenia has become better and there is even a decent choice (which means competition and fight for your traveler).

P.S.

Friends, thank you for reading the article to the end. If you found it useful, you can thank me by sharing this post on social networks.

I wish you unforgettable impressions from Yerevan!
Copyright © Sergey Prokhorov

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